Gay men are less violent

[kweerwolf]

A new study has shown that gay men tend to be less physically aggressive than heterosexual men.

The research, overseen by Stratford-based psychologist Tom Dickins of the University of East London (UEL), explores the differences in how aggression is expressed by people of different sexualities.

Aggression, Empathy and Sexual Orientation in Males is now digitally available to academics and will be in print early in 2006, in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.

It concludes that gay men are no less aggressive than straight men, but tend to vent their aggression verbally rather than physically. It also indicates that homosexual men are likely to have higher levels of empathy than heterosexuals.

http://www.thisislocallondon.com/news/topstories/display.var.669845.0.gay_men_are_less_violent.php

[DIKB]

1. Key words

"tend to be less physically aggressive"

They obviously don't know my lil brother. Most people don't even know he's gay upon meeting him. We're almost exactly alike apart from the sexual preference. Temper, political view, view on religions, etc. He sometimes scares me, lol.

[sui generis]

10. hah!

see my profile - I don't believe Ghandi works if what you are fighting against doesn't have a conscience.

and B. even if you never have to fight another human for real, being adequately prepared to means you look mahvelous at pool parties and other more "private" entertainments.

;)

[Glorfindel]

2. No big surprise...

even if we wanted to be violent, as a tiny minority we'd be quickly "ganged up on" and annihilated. Imagine the rabbit turning and attacking the wolf pack!

[Notary Sojac]

3. So are lesbians more physically aggressive than straight females?

I don't think one can generalize about such things. Seems to me that Mr. Dickens is painting with a very broad brush.

[soothsayer]

5. yeah, don't paint us gay broads with that brush or this lesbian'll

have to open a can of whoop ass on ya

[NMMNG]

9. The reich-wing tries to claim that we are

I think they're full of crap though. :eyes:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Does this apply to the entire planet, or just to western societies?

I think western society promotes an idea that males should not be allowed to bond with one another except in aggressive and unpleasant manners. They're required to be aggressive in their speech, their thought, and the way they deal with others.

[kweerwolf]

6. Very true, Sarah ...

Western culture seems to require males to be "competitive" in the extreme. Often this competition leads to aggression ranging from subtle put-downs to outright physical confrontations.

Some cultural anthropologists suggest this is a hold-over from days when our prehistoric ancestors "competed" for females and the right to reproduce. While that may be at the basis of the aggression by some males, I think the capitalist/consumer culture greatly adds to it by creating the demand for new/bigger/better consumer goods for men to compete for.

It's possible that gay mens don't have some of the aggressive tendencies because they haven't been directly targeted by advertisers in the past. Now that advertisers are starting to target the gay market, it will be interesting to see if the level of aggression begin to rise.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

8. I agree that advertisers also promote male aggression.

So does the right wing ideology.

I hope that as gay males are more targeted by advertisers, in order to sell products to them, the aggression will have to be toned down, and that will influence all men's advertising. We in the straight world would benefit from that countless ways.

[kweerwolf]

7. Ooops ... duplicate post

Dang those "double clicks"!

[William769]

11. I'm very gentle, as long as no one messes with my pumps!